Ghost of the Ice Wolf
by GuardianSaiyan
Summary: Eerie words spoken in a graveyard left Naruto and the others on edge as they embark on their next mission. Who was the girl with the wolf eyes, and what has the normally cool Kakashi shooken up aboutsigh I just can't give a good summary with this one, ple
1. ghost stories

"Why is the instructor late again?" Sakura complained as she looked bleakly at her surroundings, " and why did he ask to see us in a graveyard?" Naruto shivered. He didn't like it, even if it was broad daylight.

"Good Morning!" Kakashi stated happily perched on the entrance to the cemetery.

"It's afternoon," grumbled Susake, " what excuse do you have this time?" Kakashi smiled behind his mask.

"Oh I just overslept that's all"

WHAT!" screamed Naruto, "you had us get here at six in the morning and you can't even come up with a decent excuse!"

" Nah. I've used all my good ones up all ready." The three ninjas scowled. " Are you ready for today's lesson?" Kakashi hopped off the wall and walked up to his students.

"Does anyone know what's so important about this place?"

"That it's cold?" Naruto asked. Sakura looked around, then turned to her instructor.

"This is the Shinobi graveyard isn't it? Where all the past ninjas are buried." Kakashi smiled again, she was definitely the brains of the group.

"Correct, but incorrect at the same time. Here for miles you can see the markers for every ninja that has died while in service. However, there is not one body buried in these grounds. As we've discussed before about the disposal of a ninja's corpse. I have a mission for you today. I want you to find a headstone here and give me the history of that ninja, without leaving the graveyard."

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled, " not only is this some stupid history lesson, we have to find someone important!" Kakashi grinned.

"That's not what I said. Find it or your not getting lunch. Again." With that the high ninja vanished.

"This is so dumb!" Naruto complained as his stomach growled. He had been searching for a headstone for hours, and all he could find were ones with only the names craved into the stone. That's when he first saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He looked to see a figure standing silently over one of the graves.

"Hello!" he called out and walked over to the person, which turned to his greeting. Naruto froze dead in his tracks. The mourner was a woman just shy of kakshi's height with jet-black hair cropped around her jaw line. She looked at him with two different colored eyes. Not those of the Sharingan, but one an ice blue, the other dark brown, eyes like the wolves. The young ninja's heart stopped as he gasped. She was beautiful. She wore a tight black shinobi outfit; Naruto noted the band tied around her thigh. She smiled softly at him.

"Good day to you child, what brings one like yourself to such a dismal place?" she asked as he started to approach her again.

"I'm training hard to become the greatest ninja!" he boasted. She laughed sweetly at this.

"In a graveyard? It seems like an odd place for a training ground…but to each his own I suppose…" she trailed off.

"Well, it's my stupid instructor's fault. He wants us to do some stupid history lesson…" Naruto grumbled kicking a stone on the ground. The ninja bent down to look him in the eyes.

"I would be careful what you say here. The spirits of fallen ninjas do not like to be made fun of." She whispered in an eerie voice. Naruto looked helplessly into her eyes. The blue one had a strange symbol that almost seemed to move.

" But why would the spirits be here? Instructor said that there were no bodies buried here." The woman stood upright again and looked off into the distance. She nodded.

"Each of these markers were constructed so that the spirit would be able to find his way back, since his body had been destroyed. Many souls walk these graves, for many ninjas die with an unfinished task." Naruto swallowed hard and scanned the area.

"But ghosts don't come out during the day, right?" he asked. The woman smiled again calming his fear, but what she said next sent a new chill down his spine.

"Those," she said in a sorrow tone, "are the ones you must be most afraid of. The shadows of the day are the spirits that most despise the living, for they have to walk among them. They have to observe all the things the living can do that they cannot. It slowly consumes them, and each day their hatred grows, each day they become more and more dangerous to the living." Naruto's eyes grew wide. All the color drained from his face.

"Why?" he asked in a hoarse voice, "why do they walk during the day?" She looked back at the marker she stood at.

"For they were once powerful ninjas, and their Chakra tied to the earth, some don't even know they're dead." She said quietly, " They wander through the day some seen, some not. Trying effortlessly to find what forever holds their Chakra to this world. The thing that keeps them from peace." Naruto looked at the marker.

" That's sad…they must be so lonely." A look of pain entered the woman's eyes.

"A loneliness few can comprehend." She said and looked back at him, " though, I have a feeling you can understand it as well as I." The young ninja looked at her again happy to see her face light once again with a soft smile. "Who is your instructor young one?"

" Instructor Hatake Kakashi!" he said proudly, glad to be off the subject. The woman's face contorted for a spilt second to one of pain then was back smiling again.

"Kakashi, hmm. That makes sense then." She said. "Have you accomplished your mission?" Naruto shook his head.

"No! I can't find a single one with writing on it!" he said angrily.

"That's because you're not looking hard enough!" she laughed, Naruto looked at her baffled. "Here I'll show you, this one should do, out your hand on the marker and think of the name inscribed upon it." Naruto did as he was told. " Now release a small amount of your charka into your hand and close your eyes." As he did this images filled his head. Words of the ninja and all the deeds ever accomplished, information to large to ever fit on a headstone. He opened eyes after it was finished.

"That's amazing!" he said turned to the girl. She smiled. "But who is she?"

"My…sister. Kakashi will be impressed, to say the least. For he once knew the girl."

"Wow! Thank you! I would have never gotten that on my own! Now I can eat lunch!" Naruto started to run off then spun around.

"Wait what was your….name?" He looked around to find her nowhere. "Someday I'll be able to do that just like Kakashi and she can." He said to himself and ran back to the others.


	2. a grave tale

* * *

Sakura scowled at her instructor as he ate his sandwich. Her stomach growled at her. 

"Why do we have to wait for Naruto?" she complained. Kakashi closed Make-out Paradise and looked calmly at his student.

"Because you three need to start working as a team again. If he doesn't have anyone, none of you get to eat." Sasuke stood up straight.

"Eh, That fool probably doesn't even know how to get the information off the stones." He grumbled. The higher ninja sighed, they just couldn't grasp it. He saw the last boy walking towards them with a large grin on his face. However, the instructor knew he would even grin like this if he failed miserably.

"Hello!" Naruto called happily. The two younger ninjas glared at him. Kakashi smiled; no matter how hard he tried they just never got anywhere.

"Alright, now I want you all to report, remember, your lunch is on the line here." He said putting his book away.

"I got the Third Hokage!" Sakura stated happily, and recited all she had learned. Sasuke followed with his information on the first. They all looked at Naruto, who was smiling nervously.

"Did we have to get a Hokage?" The instructor smiled and shook his head.

"No, it's just the graves of the Hokages have the instructions on how to gather the information from them." He shot a glance at Sasuke and Sakura, who sulked down. Naruto smiled brighter.

"Well I got the information from a common ninja's marker!" Kakashi smiled as Sakura's mouth dropped open, the boy finally did something right. Naruto laughed.

"But I forgot most of it!" he said happily. The instructor fell down.

"Baka," muttered Sasuke

"D….do you remember anything?" Sakura asked helplessly. Naruto thought hard, then finally nodded.

"Yeah!" he said finally, "Because I thought it was so strange. It was girl's grave." Sakura hit him.

"Being a female ninja is strange to you!" she screamed. Naruto rubbed his head.

"No, the fact she was from a different village was. That hurt." Sakura sighed.

"Baka, did you thing we would fall for something as stupid as that? There is no way that another village's markers are –" she was cut off by Kakashi appearing in front of Naruto grabbing his shirt.

"How did you find that marker?" he asked. Sakura gasped. This wasn't like Kakashi sensei. Then the instructor smiled. "Naruto, can you show me the marker you're talking about?" Naruto nodded and started to lead the way back from which he came.

* * *

Kakashi dropped to his knees at the sight of the grave. He closed his eyes and made the necessary seals. After a bit he got up again and looked blankly at Naruto. It was strange that the boy picked this grave out of the thousands of others, could it have been the kinship between the two? The higher ninja shook his head, that was impossible. 

"Why did you pick this marker? Why not any of the others?" he finally asked. Naruto smiled slyly.

"I was hoping I wasn't go to have to tell you, but actually I saw a girl mourning over the grave and went to talk with her." Kakashi gave him a questioning look. "She said she was the girl's sister and that you would recognize the name on the marker." The instructor looked back to the gravestone. _Fuyu Tsukiko, _a name Kakashi definitely recognized.

"Umm… Kakashi sensei," Sakura started, "if she was from an another nation why is her marker here?" Kakashi turned to his students with sad haunted eyes.

"The Fuyu family name means winter, that was the name of the founder of the Hides-in-snow nation. Her great-grandfather. It was her dieing wish to be buried here." Kakashi smiled brightly and pointed, "Next to my own plot! I mean she was a girl! How could I have no?" The three students fell down. Naruto got up, he's worse than me.

"How did you know her?" Sakura asked still bothered by her sensei's initial reaction. The higher ninja's tone became serious once again. He had to think back.

"That doesn't matter now, I wanted you to learn about the past ninja's because their failures could show you the way to success in your own missions. These stones show how the ninja's were able to secure their success in their journeys; it might happen you will cross the same road they once had to travel. However, of course, not all ninja's missions are revealed here. Like Miss Tsukiko here, there were hundreds of other missions and trials she had to face that do not display themselves here for the sake of security. Come now, I believe Hokage-sama has a new mission for you three." Kakashi walked quietly out of the graveyard, his subordinates confused by his actions.


	3. monsters and murders

Naruto tapped his old instructor carefully on the shoulder, something since that day in the graveyard had been bothering him. The way Kakashi had reacted to that gravestone, wasn't like the laid back teacher. The ninja turned to face his student.

"Are you here to complain about the simplicity of your last mission?" he asked with a sigh. Naruto shook his head.

"Actually, I wanted to learn something from you, a history lesson I guess…" he stated shyly. Iruka fell down.

"What! You're joking right? Or is this just some ploy to get me to buy you lunch again." The instructor asked suspiciously. The fox boy sighed, was this the way everyone thought of him? Why wasn't he allowed to want to learn something every once in awhile?

"No, Sensei. Its just… do you know about the Hides-in-Snow village?" At the name, Iruka stopped laughing. It had been awhile, and that conflict wasn't something they teach in the schools. He nodded carefully; he wanted to know how much the boy knew before going on.

"Yeah, I've dealt with them a few times, but they've basically fallen by now, so what makes you so curious?" Naruto shrugged and looked down to the ground. He would just go straight to Kakashi and asked him, he definitely knew, but he seemed so troubled by that marker…

"Did you ever hear of a ninja by the name of Fuyu Tsukiko? The girl they called the Ice Wolf?" The instructor froze and his eyes widened, how did this boy know about that? Umuino Iruka shook his head; it was funny how the world fell together sometimes.

"Let's talk about it over lunch." He finally said with a smile watching Naruto jump for joy.

"I'm not to sure where to start," the instructor stated pushing the ramen noodles around, while Naruto was stuffing his mouth, "Have you ever heard the history of that village?" The fox boy shook his head, still with noodles hanging out.

"No, I mean I think we learned about it once, but I could have been sleeping." Iruka sighed, there was so much still kept quiet about that country.

"Well, it won't hurt to tell you some of the history of the Hides-in-Snow village…

You might know that it was founded after Konoha, yet they have had more Hokage's than us." Naruto thought about this for a while, there had been at least five generations in the village, since the first Hokage.

"How many have they had?" He asked. The instructor thought about it for a while.

"I think they are up to their seventh one now. Although we haven't had good relations with them for quite a few years, so it could be more."

"Seven!" Naruto gasped, " What keeps happening to them all, do they quit or something?" Iruka shook his head.

"They have all died, either in battle, or by assassins. The village has seen much blood shed in its time. Our village is very lucky; most countries go through many wars and lose many ninjas every year.

"But the Hides-in-Snow village was founded by a man named Fuyu Satoshi. He was a good man that believed in a greater peace through diplomacy, not war."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Kakashi said that was the girl's great-grandfather or something like that." He ordered some more noodles.

"That's correct, it went on for three generations like that, they named the child best suited for the job, most the time it was family. Tsukiko's father died early in battle and that's when the nation fell apart… by the way, why do you want to know all this kid?"

"I met a girl…" he said blushing, " she was kind of creepy, but nice though. I never got her name, but she said she was the girl's sister." The instructor shook his head.

"That's impossible; she must have been one of her students. Some people grow close enough to their Senseis to call them family." The fox boy looked confused.

"But how is it impossible, did she have no siblings?"

"She had two other sisters, but both were violently murdered years ago. And both of her parents were killed, so there was no way for there to be anymore." Naruto looked up to the ceiling.

"But what about her, Instructor?" he sighed, " I mean it's great know all about her family and stuff, but I really want to know about her." Iruka sighed; he was hoping he wouldn't have to tell him. He wasn't sure how much he was allowed to tell.

"I'm not certain what is still unauthorized about her, sorry. Tsukiko was a very legendary ninja in her time."

"But no one speaks about her now? I don't understand. And, honestly Kakashi-sensei acted very strangely when I found her grave marker. I guess I was just curious, that's all." He sighed and continued stuffing his face. Iruka smiled.

" You should ask him about it then, he knows what he can say about it and what he can't. They were kind of friends; as well as enemies can be. Your instructor has respect for all ninjas, not just the ones from Konoha. We were young then, a bit older than you. Though, we weren't as naive as our elders wanted us to be." Naruto sighed with defeat.

"I know… fine, I'll go ask him about it then." The young ninja hopped down from his stool and walked away disappointed. Iruka watched him go with a heavy heart. He wished he could tell the boy the whole story of the Ice Wolf. The similarity between the two ninjas sent a chill down his spine.

"Sir? SIR!" He snapped back to the chef, "you owe me $3000 yen" Iruka fell off the chair.

Naruto kicked the dirt. Kakashi had done one of his disappearing acts and the boy still hadn't gotten any answers. The sun beamed down on the grave of the Ice Wolf.

"Why are you so mysterious?" he muttered to the marker. A twig snapped behind him. The fox whipped around to see the girl standing in front of him.

"Some wish the past be forgotten." She whispered to him, "Especially when it concerns a traitor." Naruto gaped at her, wide-eyed.

"Is that why she is buried here, because she betrayed her country?" He looked back to the marker with interest, "The daughter of Hokages doing such a thing..."

The girl came up behind him and whispered in his ear.

"They say she killed her own father when she was just a child, then she murdered her two sisters and the next Hokage. She is said to be the reason that the Snow nation crumbles. Such a demon inside such an innocent face." She said with a sad smile. "Demons can't be trusted, they will kill all whom which they love." She looked into Naruto's soul with her iced eye. He had to look down. He had such a demon inside of him, a demon that had killed many innocent people.

"You and she share a kindred soul, I can see it. If you wish to know her truth, meet me in the grove just outside of the village at dusk. I promise not to hide anything from you my boy." Naruto looked up at her with a huge grin.

"You seem to know so much about her! Iruka must have been right; you have to be one of her old students huh?" The woman laughed, the air vibrating with the sound. The air almost seemed to chill.

"I guess you could call me the disciple of the ice wolf alright. I shall see you at dusk." She turned and walked away. Naruto jumped a bounded back to the village; finally he was going to unravel the mystery.


End file.
